Hello Greenlight Users! It's been a very long time since I posted an update on Claustrophobia's progress over here, so I thought it would be good idea to create a post highlighting the best updates and additions to the game to show all the progress that's taken place over the last few months. Claustrophobia is going very well, and I want to thank everyone who has supported my project so far!

Terrain Generation Redesign

Over the last few patches, terrain generation has come on a long way from the original array of square rooms that made up the dungeon floors. However, while the last version of the terrain generation was one of the most advanced so far, it was lacking in design. Dead ends, corridors that looped back on themselves, rooms disconnected from the main dungeon, and illogically placed rooms made exploring increasingly difficult. Adding to that the massive size of the floors meant an awful lot of backtracking, and that is not what Claustrophobia should be about. Below, you can see a floor generated with the old system, compared to a floor generated with the new system. Both use the same parameters to generate. Black tiles are walls, white tiles rooms, pink tiles doors, and green tiles corridors.

As you can see, the size of the floors has been reduced (item and enemy spawning has been changed to reflect this), and corridors and rooms are now laid out in a logical connected fashion. Rooms now spawn right up to the edges of the map, which removes the outer corridor that bordered all old maps. Corridors will pretty much always lead you somewhere, and will not backtrack or curl inwards on themselves.

Skill Engine Redesign

I have redesigned the skill engine so as to encourage the player to make decisions and craft their own class as they play. Below is a description as to how this new system works (it’s actually super simple to use):

Potions and Scrolls

The next change/addition is to how potions and scrolls work. Sticking true to the original Rogue formula, all potions and scrolls now start out both randomized and unidentified, leaving the player to identify its use. This can be done either by using a Scroll of Identification (which initially, it is unlikely you will have a huge supply of) or by biting the bullet and using them. This can of course be very risky, as there are an equal number of good and bad effects, but once identified, you will know what that specific scroll or potion does for the rest of your current game. Once you die, all potion and scroll effects will be randomized again.

I will be adding to the number of potions and scrolls steadily each patch, and certain ones will be rarer than others. Health potions and Scrolls of Identification are more likely to be identified since they are more useful. You never know though. Since you will be needing scrolls and potions a lot more post 1.1.0, scrolls can now be crafted by using a bottle of Enchanted Ink on a sheet of Paper, and Empty Potion Bottles remain after the contents have been drunk. Alchemy remains the same, just with mushrooms corresponding to potion colour, as seen above.

UI and Graphic Redesign

A lot of polish has gone into making the UI and game screen more appealing and user friendly, as well as adding as much functionality as possible within a small space. Features like crafting and equipping have been streamlined to be as easy to use as possible.

Full Resolution and Audio Support

One of the most questioned things over here on Greenlight was how small the game/ui/text appeared, and why the game's window/resolution was so small. Well, now a full options menu has been implemented, which allows you to properly set your resolution, and scale the ui and game screen to a size which best suits you.

Closing Comment

So, once again, thank you for your support thus far. I've added a new, up to date batch of screenshots to the main page. You can check out all updates, buy into the on going alpha, and follow me on twitter for the most up to date development, and my general ramblings, here: